My In-Memory Skills - Being a column rather than a row

Recently I have been thinking more about my skill set. 

I step down from the UKOUG board in March and the appointments board who are looking for candidates have asked what skills are needed and I am trying to articulate those I have.

The question about 'what I actually do?' is often asked:

Just last night I was speaking to a senior customer and an Oracle Account Manager introduced me as Certus' "Face" or "Peck" from The A Team ; being the Fixer (I hope rather than the conman). 

I quite like that because the 'Team' shows success is not about just me. Whether that team is Certus, UKOUG or anyone else.

Several years ago a boss asked me to articulate what I did as he was struggling although he knew the value and I said "I'm a bit like the Queen, nobody knows exactly what it is she does, but look at all the tourists who come to see her".

If I had to determine the best title for me, I think it would be VP of Facilitation. I keep an eye on everything Oracle is doing, especially in the Apps and the technology behind them. Do I/we need to know more? Do I/we need to learn more and if I/we don't, remember who to go to if that changes later. Then when someone asks any question, I may know a short answer, hopefully a little more, but I will be quickly able to get the full answer which might be an action. As they say in the UK "I know a man who can.'

I can't remember names, I used to write notes on business cards but worked for a Japanese company and soon discovered that was considered an insult. So if I have ever forgotten your name it is not an insult, it is my bad.

However I do store facts about people and things. A skill that works well in joining the dots between the many facets of Oracle.

So I was thinking what kind of analogy I could use to explain all this and not being technical but to explain to the Oracle Community who are, I have selected In-Memory

I am currently sitting in the ACE Director briefing and it is full of deep technical experts. Each of them knows one or more products (rows) in great detail. I know at least a small amount for each of them (column). 

If you have read this far and have no idea what I am talking about, here is the original explanation from Maria Colgan on Ask Tom. In-Memory columns is the ability to find a small amount of everything most effectively.

I can articulate much of the products / high level features and most importantly know, both within Oracle and the ACE community, WHO can answer the questions I have. 

Part of this comes from being an Alliance Director, I get all of the information from the Partner Network, distill it and enhance the knowledge of the things that matter.

Some of that enablement comes direct from Alliance & Channels, especially from the PaaS Community run by Jurgen Kress. My knowledge on the Cloud Apps comes from development especially Strategy and as a User Experience Advocate. Much more is enabled through my network in the ACE Program. Then I get the opportunity to frequently present, which gives me access to delegate questions and feedback in addition to that of our customers. All that takes a lot of time and I work for an organisation that sees the value.

For me the benefit is I work in small bursts across many initiatives and projects rather than than dedicated to one. It gives me tremendous flexibility and enormous job satisfaction.

So I'm a column rather than a row. Not the normal Oracle Geek but I get to be everywhere and did I ever tell you 'I love my job'.

Perhaps this blog will sound elitist but it isn't meant to. It is simply an explanation of a thought process.